Contested Modernities: Building Modernities and pre-launch of ARCH+ 243 Contested Modernities

On 16 April 2021, the programme of Contested Modernities - Postcolonial Architecture in Southeast Asia started with the first of four online symposia that extend the dialogue on modernism in Southeast Asia to include Germany. In the starting symposium the discourse focused on the topic of Building Modernities and the freshly published ARCH+ issue 243: Contestde Modernities – Postkoloniale Architektur und Identitätskonstruktion in Südostasien. About Building Modernities: Upon gaining independence in the mid-20th century, many cities in Southeast Asia changed dramatically in terms of their physical appearance. The task of becoming an independent nation was accompanied by the desire for a symbolic new beginning in architecture and urban planning. International modernism not only offered an aesthetic programme that reflected expectations of progress and prosperity, but also served as a means of emancipation from the colonial powers. Local modernities were created, based on an understanding of cultural specifics and the climatic requirements of building in tropical regions. While planners of the former colonial powers continued to work in these countries even after they became independent, young local architects, some of whom had trained in Europe, the United States, or the Soviet Union, began searching for an architectural style that, informed by their local climate and culture, would catalyse a new sense of identity. Some of these architects created informal networks that transcended national borders, and together looked for ideas to shape the city in the tropics. Furthermore, as part of the political reorientation process taking place in these young nations, new, transnational alliances emerged, and with them, new paths of knowledge and architecture transfer. How did these international networks work? Who initiated them? Did conflicts arise during their collaboration, and if so, how were they handled? What were the geopolitical ambitions that motivated this engagement? 0:00:00 Introduction 0:07:46 Presentation of ARCH+ 243: Contested Modernities 0:23:22 Anticolonial Solidarity and Decolonial Planning in Vietnam 0:49:17 The Malayan Architect on Trial 1:09:42 An Emergent Asian Modernism 1:32.33 On transdisciplinary and transnational networks 1:50:33 Q&A Further information: www.seam-encounters.net